October Theater

Rarely does a week go by without some theater event for the Wiznals. Last month we saw 4 plays that I can think of, one of them twice.

10/6 - We saw 6 hours of theater on this Saturday. It was the Kentucky Cycle at the Willows Theatre in Concord. The work is "a series of nine one-act plays...that explores American mythology...through the intertwined histories of three fictional families struggling over a portion of land in the Cumberland plateau." It's a huge, sprawling story and a tough one. It's a multi-award wining show and I really liked seeing it. I think the writing was a little uneven in some of the one-acts, but over all, a pretty impressive effort.

10/14 and 10/21 - The triumphant launch of R's SF Shakes school tour. It's an hour long performance that goes on the road during the school year. She trims the script down and then casts and directs the group. Her cast may end up doing 300 shows between October and the end of the spring all over NoCal with some trips to SoCal. The show this year is Twelfth Night. I saw it on the 14th and loved it, so I went again with Susan and Princess Melissa.

10/20 - PYT's Nate the Great: So much fun! The play is pretty much a one man show and the 15 year old in the central role was more than up to the task. Nice job, Ryan! The Nate the Great books have been around for ages. Surprising, since neither Mom Wiz or I had even heard of them. Rebecca is going to do Reluctant Dragon for PYT in December and Peter Pan in March.


10/26 - And the gala opening of Three Tall Women, a 3 woman show about "...a universal theme: the human aging process. By depicting a woman at three different stages of her life, (playwright) Albee cleverly juxtaposes three very different experiences and perspectives." Rebecca stars a "C", the youngest tall woman. It's a challenging, emotional script with powerful performances by the 3 actresses. I think this is the kind of intimate story that the Pear does best. It's hard not to be emotionally involved with the characters in that small space.

More next month!